Table 3.

Statistical analysis of proinflammatory genes in MT vs control group.

Gene		Mean (SD)				Student t-test	ANCOVA estimators			Bootstrapping
		Control	n	Meditation	n	Control (basal, t1) vs Meditation (basal, t1)	Adj. Diff.	95% CI	p-value	95% CI	p-value
RIPK2	t1	1.04 (0.29)	21	1.11 (0.34)	18	t(38)= −0.69; p=0.493	−0.25	−0.40; −0.10	0.001	−0.39; −0.11	0.002
	t2	1.14 (0.2)		0.91 (0.25)
COX2	t1	1.25 (0.96)	21	1.22 (0.99)	19	t(38)=0.11; p=0.913	−0.15	−0.26; −0.05	0.007	−0.26; −0.06	0.012
	t2	0.98 (0.31)		0.77 (0.51)
CCR7	t1	1.08 (0.45)	21	0.89 (0.27)	19	t(38)=1.53; p=0.135	−0.05	−0.14; 0.05	0.344	−0.14; 0.04	0.361
	t2	1.23 (0.43)		1 (0.38)
CXCR1	t1	1.09 (0.42)	19	1.24 (0.45)	19	t(38)= −1.08; p=0.286	−0.19	−0.45; 0.06	0.132	−0.42; 0.05	0.125
	t2	1.35 (0.46)		1.23 (0.34)
IL-6	t1	1.19 (0.66)	21	1.14 (0.72)	19	t(38)=0.23; p=0.821	0.02	−0.26; 0.30	0.874	−0.23; 0.30	0.879
	t2	1.04 (0.42)		1.04 (0.55)
TNF-α	t1	1.06 (0.4)	21	1.07 (0.43)	19	t(38)= −0.05; p=0.957	−0.11	−0.36; 0.15	0.398	−0.33; 0.15	0.401
	t2	1.02 (0.31)		0.92 (0.44)

Student’s independent t-test was conducted to contrast mean value differences between groups (control, meditation) at t₁. ANCOVA models were used to compare relative gene expression between groups. COX2 was log transformed to normalize distribution. Square Root transformation was applied to normalize CCR7 and TNF-α distribution. Bootstrap adjusted difference, 95% confidence interval and two-tailed p values are reported for all variables. p values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. t₁, t₂, and SD stand for pre-intervention, post-intervention, and standard deviation, respectively.